# "I'm not a parasailing moron, I'm an ARTISTE!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944 "2001-08-24T17:03:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/1 "2001-08-24T17:03:55Z")
That Statue of Liberty guy just got even stupider and more annoying . . . NEW YORK (AP) - The French man who dangled 300 feet in the air from the Statue of Liberty says he is an artist, not a daredevil. The stunt that went awry and left Thierry Devaux, 41, dangling from Lady Liberty’s arm for a half-hour was neither a political statement nor a publicity stunt, he said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. “It’s an artistic way for me to express myself,” he said. Devaux, who is from Chamonix and uses the nickname Terry Do, explained that his art comes from the expression of “movement in space. What I like is to be in the gap without gravity.” The Statue of Liberty, he says, is simply “great space.” Devaux took heat from an angry Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and tourists who were unable to visit Liberty Island, which was closed for three hours because of the stunt. Giuliani called Devaux an “idiot” in a City Hall ceremony where he honored Devaux’s rescuers, calling the stunt “a dumb and stupid thing.” —Well, I never thought I’d agree with Guiliani . . . Hmm. Here, Titian and Ingres and Bach wasted all that time learning how to paint and sculpt and compose, when all they had to do was tie bedsheets around themselves and jump off buildings . . . ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/2 "2001-08-24T17:06:42Z")
Am I the only one picturing Harry Anderson as Devaux? At least the guy didn’t have a giant set of Groucho glasses (with moustache and eyebrows made of yak hair) with him. Regardless…What an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/3 "2001-08-24T17:10:20Z")
**Calvin:** I meant to do that. **Hobbes:** Then it worked very well. ---
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/4 "2001-08-24T17:13:12Z")
Damn I love Calvin and Hobbes! Why’d he stop? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/5 "2001-08-24T17:31:32Z")
I thought it only rained frogs in Exodus. So he’s following in the tradition of his countryman, Yves Klein, who performed a piece titled “Leap into the Void,” flinging himself from a second story window on to bare pavement. The prospect of defenestrating Frenchmen vying to outdo eachother from escalating altitudes bodes ill for us pedestrians. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/6 "2001-08-24T17:44:09Z")
I dunno, it wasn’t his _intention_ to close it to tourists. Some of us sit at desks, some of us want to fly…I think it’s pretty cool give he’s 41. Does sounds a bit bonkers, though. Wonder if that’s the closest he’s got to being inside a French woman for quite some time ? \ ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/7 "2001-08-24T17:47:22Z")
It’s a shame we didn’t know it was art at the time. If we had we could have just left him hanging there. That would certainly have fulfilled my artistic vision. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/8 "2001-08-24T18:08:22Z")
I think it’s a cover story–he was really trying to steal it back for France. _“Sacre bleu! Ze statue, she is much heavier zen I thought!”_ ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/9 "2001-08-24T18:17:26Z")
Hmm… this is probably reckless endangerment, maybe criminal trespass, probably misdemeanor charges. I suggest they bring him in to be arraigned. As he is not an American, I hope the judge denies bail, finding him a flight risk (ouch!), and sets a trial date appropriate to this crime…April 1, 2002. Convict him, sentence him to time served, and deport him so he can try the Eiffel Tower. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/10 "2001-08-24T20:11:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lurkernomore \* > \*\*\*\*\*and deport him so he can try the Eiffel Tower. \*\* too late, he’s already done it. Maybe this is why France has the worst road fatality rating in the world? They’re not speeding and driving recklessly, they’re just expressing themselves in a free from 130 mph way. Of course we have our yahoos here too. You can’t build anything without somebody trying to jump off of it, climb it or some other god forsaken stunt. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/11 "2001-08-25T23:47:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jinxie \* > \*\*Of course we have our yahoos here too. You can’t build anything without somebody trying to jump off of it, climb it or some other god forsaken stunt. \*\* In light of this, I was wondering about that guy who climbed, or tried to, one of the Twin Towers, back in the '70s. What was his schtick? Was he protesting, trying to set a world record, or what? ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/12 "2001-08-26T18:35:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Jinxie \* > > \*\*Of course we have our yahoos here too. You can’t build anything without somebody trying to jump off of it, climb it or some other god forsaken stunt. \*\* > > In light of this, I was wondering about that guy who climbed, or tried to, one of the Twin Towers, back in the '70s. What was his schtick? Was he protesting, trying to set a world record, or what? \*\* George Willig. Knew someone who went to school with him. Kenny said he was always just a nut. DId it for the adventure. Think he was fined $1.10, a penny a floor. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/13 "2001-08-26T20:59:33Z")
I see. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/14 "2001-08-27T04:32:47Z")
\*\* MAIS OUI \*\* **Quote:** " Devaux, who is from Chamonix and uses the nickname Terry Do, explained that his art comes from the expression of ‘movement in space. What I like is to be in the gap without gravity.’ " Sounds like the NYC’s Finest holding pen is gonna be a mighty nice stay for Msr Thierry. Anyone know what the French government’s response to this is? They gotta be shitting a fleur-de-lis about the symbolism of this outstanding baguette… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/15 "2001-08-27T10:09:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > I dunno, it wasn’t his _intention_ to close it to tourists. Some of us sit at desks, some of us want to fly…I think it’s pretty cool give he’s 41. Uh, yeah. I have a desk job AND I fly - but I don’t get myself snagged on national monuments. It’s not cool, it’s stupid. Although the idea of being stuck on a monument to freedom does have a peverse ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-not-a-parasailing-moron-im-an-artiste/77944/16 "2001-08-27T13:22:31Z")
Happy for you, **Broomstick** – you must use a fairly lumpy paperweight ?